Hockey family: McCluskey brothers rack up achievements and target Grand Finals

When John and younger brother Ritchie McCluskey lifted the Men’s Scottish Cup with Grange on Saturday they capped what has been an incredible story of achievement in their young hockey careers so far.

The brothers won the Scottish Cup with Grange and John, aged 21, supplied the second goal and scored the sixth on the day. This makes it three Scottish Cup medals, one Scottish Plate, and a National League 1 success for John. Ritchie, aged 17, meanwhile has won Central 1 and the District Cup with Grange 2’s last season, and has now added National League 1 and Scottish Cup success to his CV this season with his brother by his side.

In addition Ritchie has won every Inter-District and club age group tournament that he has been eligible for this year, and has represented Scotland as part of the U18 Scotland squad at last year’s Futures Cup.

The McCluskey Brothers with the men’s Scottish Cup – photo by Mark Pugh

These successes only scratch the surface of the amount of medals the duo have won.

The brothers are both on the Scotland national performance pathway with John having represented Scotland at U18 & U21 levels, and Ritchie in Scottish blue at U16 & U18 age groups.

Next up for both brothers is a tough weekend of National League Play-Offs with John and Ritchie both hoping to help Grange reach and succeed in this weekend’s Grand Finals.

John McCluskey said, “Winning both the league and the Scottish Cup playing alongside Ritchie has definitely been a highlight of a very successful few years for us both. I think it’s a credit to the Grange youth system to have so many young players coming up into the team but it’s not a surprise seeing the success the junior teams have had this year.

“It has been the first time we have managed to really play together in the same team because of us having a reasonably big age gap of four and a half years, so this is hopefully the start of a long playing career together.

“We are very competitive with each other and that has most likely been part of the reason for the success we have both had so far, but for now we are focused on giving the best performance we can for this tough weekend of playoffs. Then hopefully after this we can both play in the EHL together and then in the future maybe even get to the dream scenario where we play next to each other in a Scotland shirt.”

In the coming weeks John will be taking the trip to Vienna with Grange to compete in EuroHockey Club Championships II, which Ritchie will sadly miss out on as the dates clashed with his higher examinations. Ritchie however is currently in training for a place to represent Scotland in the upcoming U18 EuroHockey Championships II in Wales.

Ritchie McCluskey said, “The last two years have been amazing and to end this season by winning National League 1 & the Scottish Cup playing alongside John has definitely been a highlight. Now I just have to concentrate on the playoffs this weekend & my higher exams. After that it’s back to training to fight for selection for the upcoming U18 European Championships in Wales.”

Family is at the heart of hockey in Scotland and the McCluskey brothers have added the latest great narrative to the hockey family story.

Will they add a Grand Finals medal to their collection this weekend?

Ticket information for this weekend’s Grand Finals is HERE

 

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